THE Ballyvaughan community continues to prove itself willing and welcoming to Ukrainian refugees with various collections and fundraisers being organised with the help of the Ballyvaughan Development Group.

With the sudden surge of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland, the Ballyvaughan Community Facebook page became a kind of forum for organising what was needed and where.

Karen McDonnell, who runs administrates and runs social media accounts for Ballyvaughan Development Group, explained that an email address quickly followed to streamline the process of distributing supplies to the refugees.

She said, “What I did was monitor the comments on our social media and redirect people to co-ordinate it better.

“Now, we have coalesced with Lisdoonvarna Fáilte, who have a full-time office. We have linked up to found a new website, NCCommunity.ie, which is now the umbrella group in North Clare for recognising needs and matching them with what we can offer. Last week, we had so many donations that we had to declare we had enough!”

Karen emphasised that the community has been incredibly generous, with locals constantly on the lookout for things they can contribute and ways they can help refugees integrate into their surroundings.

The generosity isn’t just restricted to those living locally, however; Neeley Koster, a US citizen and a frequent visitor to Ballyvaughan, bought over 20 refurbished bikes that she then sent to the Ballyvaughan Atlantic Hotel, where most of the Ukrainian refugees are currently living.

Another American visitor named Judy Flader, along with her daughter, has organised a fundraiser through their church in the US and bought helmets and gear to match the bikes, giving over what funds were left to go towards raised flower beds which will be built by volunteers and refugees alike.

Karen added, “Those are only two people with a fondness for the village, who have been following us on social media and donating.

“Currently, we have over 160 refugees here, and the teenagers amongst them have started in school in the CBS and Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon.

“The local scouts group organised a game of rounders for the kids to mix and play, and meet the principals of the two schools as well.”

Other Ukrainian children are starting national school in Ballyvaughan on April 25, and joined in with the recent Easter egg hunt last week.

Karen stated that collections are brilliant, but that integrating the refugees is a whole other subject to tackle.

She has already seen how the efforts of the locality has made it easier, including the simpler things such as use of the local playground to occupy the younger Ukrainian children.

She added that while there is a language barrier with some of the new community members, many of them have already filled job vacancies and are looking for jobs nationwide that they can work remotely, such as posts in IT.

“The Irish Refugee Council has been recently posting about translation services, so I have been promoting that as well, for those unfamiliar with English. But it’s when the children get involved that the adults start to integrate as well, and it’s not just about language. We have to appreciate that people are people, all over the world, and these people are traumatised.”

Determined to promote the Ukrainian language among the refugees also, Karen has recently made contact with Raven Books on the east coast, who have pledged a box full of children’s books in the Ukrainian language bound for the local national school.

Karen directs those who would like to help the community effort towards NCCommunity.ie, where they can make donations and register for a newsletter which will keep members up to date on what is most needed for the incoming refugees.

Those who wish to get physically involved can register with Clare Volunteer Centre, and will be asked to complete a Garda vetting course before helping out.

New local Violetta (86), who is lovingly known as “Granny Violetta”, was recently reunited with her twelve-year-old dog Tasha due to the valiant efforts of such volunteers, after being forced to leave her behind during her flight to Ireland.

An 86 year old #Ukrainian #Refugee living in County Clare has been reunited with her pet dog Tasha.

Violetta had to abandon her pet of 13 yrs as she fled #UkraineWar but a team of volunteers led by @debbiedeegan1 succeeded in finding the dog and to reunite both refugees. pic.twitter.com/PjO7oTVy4D

— Tomás O Mainnín (@omainnintomas) April 11, 2022

“Please forgive me, Tasha, for leaving you. I had no choice,” were the words Violetta is recorded to have said upon their reunion, before her story was shared widely all over social media.

Karen highlighted that while such a story may seem insignificant compared to the horrors of war, empathy is extremely important when talking about and to the refugees.

“As one human being, something like that might be a huge part of your normal life. If we could imagine for ourselves being told we had to leave our homes in the next ten minutes, I think we would struggle to say what we would bring with us and what we would leave behind – what would break your heart to leave.”